Report: YouTube TV to offer $20 credit to subscribers if ESPN blackout extends to Sunday

When ESPN and other Disney channels went dark on YouTube TV last week, the service said subscribers would receive a credit if the blackout went on for an “extended period” of time. Users now know when that would be.

YouTube TV would offer a $20 credit if a deal doesn’t come together with Disney by Sunday, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported. Both sides are negotiating Saturday, hoping to find a resolution to the more than week-long blackout.

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The carriage deal between Disney and YouTube TV expired Oct. 30 at 11:59 p.m. ET. However, the networks went dark at approx. 11:27 p.m. ET that night – prior to the deal’s expiration. The blackout then continued through Week 10 of the college football season, as well as Monday Night Football between the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys. Now, Week 11 of college football is also unavailable to YouTube TV’s roughly 10 million subscribers.

In a memo to Disney employees Friday, obtained by On3, executives indicated the blackout was likely to continue into the weekend. They said they did not know when the channels would return as negotiations continue.

“We realize this has been a challenging week, with everyone asking the same question as millions of YouTube TV subscribers during the busiest time of the year in sports: When will ESPN and ABC be back on the service?” read the memo, written by Disney Entertainment co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro. “We wish we could give you that answer today, but unfortunately, we are headed into another sports-packed weekend without a deal in place.”

YouTube TV then responded by calling out Disney for “leaking documents to the press, negotiating in public through their paid talent and misrepresenting the facts including from the deals they’ve offered and taking credit for our product proposals.” As a result, the impasse continued into Saturday.

While ABC still had the most-watched college football game of Week 10 with an average 7.8 million people tuning in for Georgia’s win over Florida, FOX won the Noon ET window. Ohio State’s win over Penn State averaged 7.2 million viewers.

Monday Night Football also saw a ratings decrease from Week 9 of the NFL season a year ago. The matchup between the Cowboys and Cardinals averaged 16.2 million viewers. That’s a roughly 20% decrease from last year’s Week 9 game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.